We have a family reunion planned on the Holiday in Dec. Our TA has advised that the Holiday will be in "dry dock in Nov. What exactly does that mean, is it a good thing. Hope it doesn't cause us to have a less enjoyable time, it's the first cruise for me and the first one for most of the group. We're leaving out of Mobile going to Cozumel.

Ships take advantage of slower peroids every few years to do major overhaul and repairs (inside and out). When you sail on your ship in December she will be mechanically sound, and probably be so shined and polished she will be better than new on the inside.

A ship is dry docked or taken out of the water mainly to make repairs, paint, upgrades or to clean up those portions of the ship that is always underwater. this is a very common practice with ships and I would think that the cruise lines would use this dry docked period to reburbish the interior and exterior of teh ship as well. Go to this link to see pictures of dry docked ships

PapaBill or anyone - Is it true the shipbuilder usually does the drydocking as well? In the case of Carnival Destiny, would that be somewhere in Italy? Near Trieste? Also, if you know, one article said that the crew stick with the ship over the dry dock period. Think so? Another dry dock query, what is meant by SOLAS compliant and does the country of registry require certain upgrades or overhauls or is that at the discretion of the owners protecting their investment? Finally, if Destiny is too old (1996) does that mean no Azipods, or can they be economically retrofitted in place of shaft & screw? Thanks, Dave in Mich. (Destiny 16 October S. Juan)

Routine drydock repairs etc are often done closer to home port. There are drydocks big enough to handle most ships in places like the Bahamas, Victoria BC and San Fran Cisco and others. If major overhauls like "stretching " the ship are done, those are usually done at European shipyards.
Many of the crew will in fact stick with the ship and become the manual labor for carpet removals, bedding changes, painting , cleaning , varnishing etc.
SOLAS is "Safety of Life at Sea" and are international requirements for things like fire safety, flamability of materials, life saving equipment and such. These upgrades are made to keep older ships, perhaps designed before current SOLAS rules ,compliant with current regulations.
Destiny is not a terribly old ship. She was the first of her class and encompasses many of the things present in newer ships. Her cabins are absolutely HUGE. With some spit and polish she will come out of drydock ready for a couple of years of service. I don't think she has pods and no one is going to retrofit a well functioning older technology ship with pods which are nothing but trouble to most ships that have them.